How did this happen?
by Chocolatey Goodness
Summary: "It is only in adventure that people succeed in finding themselves"- Andre Gide. One minute, Jessie was simply playing on her computer and the next...She had been teleported into the world of TF2. (First fanfic, hope you like?) Disclaimer: I do not own Team Fortress 2 or any of the classes. Rated M for swearing and a bit of gore later on, just putting it as such to be 100% sure.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, this is my first fanfiction...So, um, I hope you enjoy it?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Team Fortress Two, etc.**

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"Jessie!"

The voice boomed through the house, making her cringe back and bite her lip. She knew that tone of voice all too well. Mother was not happy. She hunched my shoulders, taking a deep breath. She ran through the mental list of all the things she had done that could get her in trouble, the reasons too many for her to figure out which one her mother had managed to find out about.

She almost thought about sneaking out the window but another louder, angrier shout from her mom quickly swept away the thought. She ran a hand through her unkempt light brown hair in defeat, rubbing her neck. Her hair reached roughly just passed her shoulder blades, almost always riddled with knots of all sizes. A long fringe usually covered one of her olive green eyes except for today. Today, she had at least managed to find the effort to pin it back on her head in a feeble attempt to look awake despite staying up all night yesterday. Overall, her appearances were nothing 'outstanding'. Just average. Awfully average.

Bounding down the stairs two at a time, she looked up to see her mother standing by the front door. Her work clothes were on, her hair tied neatly into a ballerina bun. Her neat appearance a noticeable contrast to Jessie's just-got-out-of-bed look, even so, she could see the purple bags that lay underneath her mother's eyes after a restless night of work. She wore an expectant look on her face, a phone pressed tightly to her ear.

"Whatever they say, it was not my fault**!" **Jessie instinctively pointed out, even though she had no idea _what _exactly she was lying about not being involved in. Her mother simply waved her off, obviously trying to strain to hear what the person on the other end was telling her, and she flumped down against the wall with a sigh as she waited.

After a few minutes, my mother finally got off the phone and instantly turned toward her with a puzzled expression. Jessie frowned, wondering exactly what had her so confused.

"What's not your fault?"She finally asked and Jessie began to draw the pieces of the puzzle together. Her mom hadn't found out about anything! But then, why had she called for her? It's not like her mother to actually talk to her other than telling her to leave her alone or lecture Jessie about something.

"Er, nothing" She quickly lied, silently cursing herself for not thinking of something better to say. Her mother simply shrugged, letting the subject go. She must have been in a rush of some sort.

"Very well. I just called you down here to tell you that food is in the fridge. I'm coming home late tonight"She spoke, straightening her jacket. Jessie nodded, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at her last comment. She _always _worked late, it wasn't much of a surprise.

Seeing as she didn't seem to have anything else to tell me, Jessie waved her goodbye before sprinting back up into her room and swinging the door closed with a huge slam. She glanced toward the pile of school books littering her bed, frowning slightly. She had less than one week until her yearly exams, a huge test that goes for a large majority of a student's grade…It seemed like the perfect time to go play some TF2.

Slumping into her chair, she booted up the computer and opened up TF2. She swung on her headset, eyes already glued to the screen. Whenever she played games she always seemed to zone out the rest of her surroundings, her whole mind getting invested in what was happening on the flashing screen before her.

Today she was playing 2Fort, one of her favourite maps. Grinning, she chose her favourite class…Scout. She was only just about to walk out of base when her screen went completely black. She blinked, staring at her computer in shock for a second before groaning. _"No, no, no!_" She screamed out in frustration, smacking the keyboard as though it would help the situation. She was just about to try and figure out what had gone awry when her screen suddenly flashed a bright white. She covered her face with her arms, protecting her eyes from the blinding light. She suddenly felt dizzy, lightheaded.

A white hot pain began in her stomach, as though someone had reached in with their hand and began squeezing and pulling everything inside out. She tried to scream but her mouth made no sound, or, maybe, she was able to scream but couldn't hear it over the heavy drumming of her heart pounding in her ears. She felt as though she was slowly being torn apart limb by limb, the pain almost unbearable.

She could feel blackness prickling her vision, coming from the corners of her eyes and slowly growing to take complete control of her.

The next thing she knew she was laying on the ground, a migraine enveloping her skull. She groaned, struggling into a sitting position despite her body's protests. She pressed a hand to her skull as though it would help erase the pain, her other hand rubbing at the corners of her eyes.

Blinking away her hazy vision, her eyelids flutter open to look around her room.

The thing was, she was no longer inside the comfort of her room. This…This was somewhere else, somewhere _far _away from her small neighbourhood. But, how?...And, where?

Stumbling to her feet, she managed to keep herself from fainting again as a strange dizziness shot through her body. Okay, she had to take things more slowly. First thing was first, _where _was she? Jessie squinted her eyes, surveying her environment. The first thing she noticed was the sky. It was pitch black save for a few scattered stars. Night? But, how could that be? Only minutes ago it had been morning.

The second thing she noticed was the way everything seemed so similar…The two buildings, red and blue, facing each other...The bridge that connected the two, a sewer tunnel leading into both buildings present underneath it. It took all her efforts to not faint again. This was…2Fort! But, how could that be? It wasn't damn possible!

She knew for a fact that she must have been hallucinating, because, to be in 2Fort meant she had to be inside of the game TF2. That was unlikely, no, it was downright impossible! Yet, here she was. Her first instinct rushed into her. She gave herself a hard, long slap that left her cheek red and throbbing and instantly regretted it as pain shot from the spot. Okay, so she wasn't sleeping…Or, maybe, she just hadn't hit herself hard enough. Giving herself another for good measure, she realized with a sinking stomach that this was no dream.

This was reality.

She could practically feel herself beginning to hyperventilate and she clasped a hand over her chest, attempting to control her breathing and, more importantly, her thoughts.

Okay, so she was inside of the game TF2. Either that, or, she had gone insane. She really hoped it wasn't the latter. There was something off about the place though. It was so…silent. She wandered why the two teams weren't fighting when it hit her. Quite literally. Something smacked her on the back of the head with a resounding clank and she felt her knees give in underneath her, the ground rushing up to greet her face.

She groaned, blackness once again beginning to blur my vision. Somehow she managed to roll onto her back, even though it didn't help all that much to stop the pain. At least it helped her breathe properly and her mouth was no longer tasting dust. She could make out a figure towering over her, a grimace on his face as he leaned his bat on his shoulder. As soon as he got a good look of her face though, his expression changed to one of complete shock.

"W-what the fuck**?" **The figure announced, bending down to see her face in a better light. Doing so also caused the light to highlight his features in an eerie glow, confirming her hunch on who it was. Scout. She could recognize that accent anywhere, even when semi-conscious. "Shit!" He shouted again, his face a mixture of shock, confusion and surprise.

He stared at her for what felt like years, probably deciding what the hell he should do, before picking her up fire fighter style and speeding into the red fort. She would have protested and demanded he put her down, even kick him where it really hurts, if it weren't for the fact that she was on the edge of slipping unconscious.

She groaned, each step making her head bob up and down and causing her headache to increase. Being hit upside the head with a bat had done little to improve her earlier headache. "Doc!" She could hear him shouting at the top of his lungs as he leapt through the twists and turns of the building, taking her into a part of the fort she had never seen before. He practically broke the door to one of the rooms down in his rush as he stormed in, wildly looking around in all directions. "Doc! Ya might wanna see this" He shouted, his eyes settling on the far corner of the room where Medic sat opposite the Heavy, his laughter cut off by Scout's abrupt appearance.

Everyone twisted their head around to look in his direction, sensing the urgency thick in his voice. Through her blurry vision, she managed to glance around the room. Nine figures. All the members of RED. The Medic was first to snap out of his haze, snapping into action. "Set her over zere" He ordered, pointing to one of the empty couches. Scout obliged without a comment, for once, trying to put her down as gently as possible. Medic kneeled before her, delicate hands checking her head and frowning at the sight of blood.

"How did zis happen?" He asked, his eyes assessing the damage.

"Hit 'er in the back of the head with my bat" He replied, twirling his bat in his hand for emphasis. Medic raised his eyebrow quizzically, looking briefly back over his shoulder at Scout. "By accident! Thought she was one of them shapeshiftin' rats!" He defended, raising his hands up in the air.

Medic turned back to me. "It's not zat bad, could've been vorse. Should be alright, I just need to vrap it up" He muttered to himself, fishing into his pocket and pulling out a roll of bandages.

"Couldn't ya just use your medigun or somethin'?" Scout asked.

"Injuries are not zat bad. Using a medigun would simply vaste ammo" He replied absent-mindedly, wrapping her head carefully.

"Losin' your touch, eh, kid?" Sniper spoke from the corner of the room, a smirk forming on his lips. Scout's hands tightened around his bat, his body going tense, as if he was trying to refrain from going over there and knocking his head in. "Where'd the sheila come from anyway?" He added, taking a small sip of his drink after.

"Dunno. She wasn't there one minute and the next, bam! There she was!" He answered. Everyone turned toward Jessie, who had been unable to stop her body from slipping out of consciousness, a tenseness tangible in the air.

"What do we do with her?" Scout asked.

"Let her sleep" Sniper replied, finishing his cup of whatever he was drinking and walking toward the girl. He lifted her gently off the couch, ignoring Medic's protests.

"What are you doin'?!" Scout instantly shouted in distress.

"Relax mate. Jus' carrying her to a proper bed" He replied calmly.

"Put her in ze infirmary for tonight" Medic spoke, straightening his small, circular glasses.

Sniper, Medic and Scout were the ones to carry her out of the room and toward the infirmary, the other six members still too shocked to do or say anything.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello everyone! I am so, so, so sorry for not having posted in almost a month! In all honesty, i never actually thought that anyone would read this fanfic so I kind of forgot about it, but upon seeing people actually adding this to their favorites or writing reviews, it literally made my day! I can't believe I actually got a review! I was so excited, I practically squealed...**

**I'd like to thank everyone who liked this, or followed this story, despite my many mistakes in the first chapter. Thank you GrowSomeStrawberries for pointing out my first person/third person mistakes in the previous chapter. I will fix those when I get the time.**

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Jessie woke to the sound of muttering in a foreign language and she slowly opened her eyelids, rubbing away the sleepy haze that sat over them like a thick blanket. Funny, her mother should have woken her up by now, she had to go to school. Or, rather, she had to go to the first class and then ditch. Pulling herself into a sitting position, she grunted as pain resonated throughout her skull. Wincing, she reached a hand up to find the rough material of what she presumed was a bandage, tightly woven around one particular spot of her head.

How, how had she gotten this? Suddenly feeling as awake as she possibly could get, her eyes frantically swept over her environment. This was not her room. It all came flooding back to her like an avalanche, knocking the air from her lungs. She was still in 2Fort, she hadn't been dreaming! She could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate again and she tried to calm herself down and think logically.

For starters, where was she now? Eyes sweeping the room, she knew that this was not a part of the map that she had ever been in before. However, judging by the equipment and medicine, it looked to be the infirmary.

"Oh, gut! You are up!" A voice called from the opposite side of the room, and she whipped her head around to come into eye contact with the medic. How had she not realized he was there? She cursed herself for not surveying the area carefully enough. He pulled away from his desk, pushing his chair across the room until he was sitting beside her. "Und how are ve feeling today?" He asked, unwrapping her head and checking to make sure everything was alright before grabbing a new bandage and beginning the slow process of wrapping it up a second time.

"Good, I guess" She replied, fidgeting slightly with the blanket and glancing around the room.

"Gut, gut" He muttered, pulling back to study her. She glanced away, although she could still feel his eyes trying to drink in any emotion that crossed her face. "Ze ozers are vaiting in the recreation room, but I'll make it easy on you. Who are you und what are you doing here?" He asked, his eyes growing colder with every word.

Jessie gulped, feeling the urge to spring up and run as far away as she could possibly get from this man. He was crazy, someone who liked experimenting on the other mercenaries, and being alone in the same room with him did not help her from hyperventilating. "I'm Jessica, er, and…I don't know" She replied, trying to look as truthful as possible.

After all, telling her she had been sucked into a game was probably the best way to get locked up somewhere and called 'crazy'.

"If you von't tell me the truth, I cannot help you" He said, obviously trying to make his voice less threatening this time, yet she could still see the coldness that lay beneath the surface of his eyes.

"I'm, I'm telling the truth! I cannot remember anything before arriving here! All I remember is waking up on the ground outside and that's it" She lied, using wild hand gestures to try and emphasis her point. The Medic merely stared at her, his facial expression set in stone, and she fell silent again. It seemed like an eternity before he spoke up again.

"I believe you" He simply stated, straightening his glasses before standing up. I let out a mental sigh of relief, thankful for her ability to lie convincingly. "However, ze ozers may not be so…trusting. Come, it is time zat you are all probably introduced" He stated, motioning for her to follow him.

"What about my head injury? Must I not rest?" She asked, trying to get out of actually meeting the other mercenaries. It was all good and well when she was playing one of them and they were just pixels on a screen, but actually meeting them face to face may as well spell the end of her.

"I used ze medigun on it, you vill be fine" He brushed the complaint off, making his way to the door. Jessie did not feel safe though, after all, Medic had lost his medical license for…A very disturbing reason.

Stumbling onto her feet, she shivered at how cold the stone seemed against the bare skin of her feet. She really wished she hadn't taken her shoes off prior to getting teleported here. Running across the icy ground, she leapt out of the door the Medic had held open for her. She sighed at the warm, wooden ground that met her feet.

Glancing up, she almost hissed at the bright light that invaded her vision. She blinked, covering her eyes from the rising sun that filtered through the window. With squinted eyes, Jessie attempted to keep sight of the Medic as he swept this way and that. How he even remembered where to go was beyond her. The buildings in 2fort seemed to be much bigger than they were in the game, and they passed what seemed like an infinite amount of doors before Medic abruptly stopped at one. She almost crashed into him but managed to skid to a stop before actually hitting him.

She took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart, before gingerly stepping through the door in which the Medic held open for her. At her entry, she found eight faces turning toward her almost in sync. It was definitely creepy, almost beyond creepy.

"Took ya long enough" She heard Scout shout out from the opposite end of the room, taking a sip of the can of Bonk! that was gripped in his hand. He was sprawled across one of the couches, obviously having been interrupted from watching something on the TV.

And with that little comment, the interrogation began. It took a while for everyone to finally accept her story, and by a while I mean a few, couple HOURS, but after that was when the real problems began. What were we going to do with her, what would the administrator say, where would she stay. Things like that. After a while, and a fight between Scout and Sniper that only Engineer was able to break apart, everyone came to the agreement that Jessie had to stay hidden.

They couldn't have the administrator finding out and…Well, basically, having her killed. She wouldn't respawn, after all. After that it was like replaying information that she already knew, although she acted curious about it as to not draw suspicion to herself. They told her the basics, such as their names, the roles they played, the RED and Blu team, how sometimes, like today, they got days off from fighting. It turns out they do respawn here as well, although no one really knows how it works.

All they know is that they must take a pill every day before battle that stops them from 'dying', and causes them to respawn. It's a painful process, respawning. It involves the entire reconstruction of the body, and of course actually getting shot or burnt to death isn't that nice either. Upon hearing that, she almost felt guilty about playing as them in a game. She felt as though she was responsible for their pain, but she quickly shrugged the thought away. It wasn't her fault, she told herself, shaking her head slightly.

The Administrator sat in front of an array of flickering screens, cocooned by the large chair that enveloped her. A frown was carved into her face, an anger in her eyes. She took a long drag of her cigarette, leaning back and tapping her chin thoughtfully. The screen in front of her showed the RED team, all present in the recreation room, however, what really caught her attention was the girl in which they were all looking at.

This girl…She was mysterious. No one was meant to be able to find out about all this, their constantly guarding sentry guns that shot anyone or anything that came too close to the area making sure of that. Yet, how had she come in?

Mysteries were not something the Administrator liked. She was constantly in the know about everything and everyone, and when she wasn't, well, she took some extra measures to ensure she was. This girl, whomever she may be, was threatening the security and secrecy of her operations. She knew too much already about all of this, she had to be executed.

As to how, that was when the fun began. She swiftly spun around to face her assistant, her nails strumming a repetitive pattern. "Miss Pauling" The Administrator began, butting her cigarette out on a cigarette tray. "We need to deliver a message to the RED" She demanded, her lips contorting into a wicked smile.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys!**

**This would be chapter 3. Yep. Im going to try and post one chapter every week, hopefully i will stick to that plan...I'd also really like to apologise if the tf2 classes seem OOC or their dialogue is a bit icky, if you think so, please tell me how I could improve :) Hope you like!**

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The rest of the day went uneventful, and for once in her life, Jessie didn't want it any other way. It was a strange feeling for her, to actually not be looking for trouble, looking for action. With all the events that had happened over the course of the last two days, there had been plenty enough action. Being teleported here, into TEAM FORTRESS 2, meeting everyone, literally being avalanched with information for two hours straight.

It was all just a little too much for her to handle, but at the same time, Jessie wouldn't want it any other way. For once in her life, she wasn't stressed, she wasn't replaying _that _moment over and over again in her head. She took in a brisk gulp of fresh air, eyes roaming 2Fort. Her legs swung over the edge of the balcony, pulled down by the force of gravity.

She had never been in this part of the building before, it was the very back of the wooden structure and gave her the full view of the surrounding barren desert. A few patches of green were scattered in the horizon, as though someone had gotten a paintbrush and decided to splatter the paint all over the canvas.

The sun was melting away before Jessie's eyes, dipping down behind the dark silhouettes of the sand dunes and colouring the sky an ocean of pink and orange hues. Darkness chased the last rays of sun away, enveloping the landscape in a shawl of night. Above her, the first stars of the night were beginning to show, twinkling above her like diamonds. The cloud of pollution that usually covered the stars like a thick blanket at home had scattered, giving a perfect view of the lights in the sky.

The cool air calmed her tense muscles, the silence quietening her racing mind. She smiled, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. For a moment, she was at peace. She didn't know how long she had been outside for, simply enjoying the quiet that the city didn't offer, but she knew that it had to be at least a few hours.

Well, it was time to be going back. She didn't want to worry the others, besides, she had never gone this long without eating before. Her tummy grumbled, making its presence known. It should have been around dinner time now, she figured, her mouth instantly watering at the thought of eating. Reluctantly getting up, she stretched her aching limbs and slowly began walking back the way she had come.

It took her what seemed like years of travelling down hall after hall before she finally found what she reckoned what was the kitchen. Scout had attempted to give her the tour of the building, but he had been too quick and most of the time she'd have to sprint to keep up, his mouth blubbering on at the speed of light. There was no way she would have been able to keep up, both with his speed and with the information that spilled from him.

Blinking at the bright, artificial light above her, she waited until her eyes adjusted before glancing around her surroundings. The room was pretty simple, really. There was a long table that took up most of the left half of the room, and to the right was a small area which was the main kitchen. There was a counter, fridge, oven and everything else that seemed to be of importance for cooking.

Jessie wouldn't know though, when your mother ordered takeaway every day, there really wasn't any need for you to learn how to cook. An archway led the way to what seemed to be the recreation room. It was then that Jessie caught sight of the Aussie hunching over a newspaper by the kitchen table, a mug labelled '#1 Sniper' grasped tightly in his hands. Jessie fought off a scoff at the label, settling on rolling her eyes instead.

She knew that the Sniper wasn't the most social of the nine classes, and she had made a promise to herself to not try to annoy him too much, but she had a question that she needed answered. Wandering over, she took a seat across from him and leant her chin on her palm, looking over at him expectantly.

The Sniper mumbled something unintelligible under his breath, before slowly placing his mug of coffee down on the table and lowering his newspaper. Coffee, at night? Did this guy ever sleep? Knowing she had his attention now, Jessie leant forward on her elbows to make sure he could hear her.

"Hey, Snipes, where exactly is everyone?" She asked bluntly, not feeling the need to stall.

"G'day to you too, mate." He replied sarcastically, before sighing and leaning back in his chair. "They all left"

"Wait, what?"

"They all left"

Jessie sighed. She wasn't in the mood for this, she just wanted to know what was happening. "You know what I mean, _mate_." She mocked, and she swore she almost caught the sight of annoyance cross Sniper's eyes. Whatever the emotion was, it was gone in a blink. "Why has everyone left? And when are they coming back? Are they ever coming back? Am I going to be left here with…you?!"

"Oi, calm down sheila. It's been a day, and you're already giving me a headache" He grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Wot I meant was, they ain't in this room."

"But, why?" She asked. For what she had gathered in her short time spent in this base, everyone spent most of their time in the recreation room or kitchen.

"Two words, mate. Pyro's. Cooking." He replied in a whisper, before raising his mug to his lips and taking a sip. Jessie furrowed her brows in return, cocking her head. What did he mean? What was so bad about pyro cooking?

Almost as though on cue, the mumbling pyro technician half-skipped through the door. Jessie turned back to Sniper, sending him a nervous look. He simply shrugged, picking his newspaper up again and letting his eyes skim over its surface.

Jessie turned back toward pyro, preparing for the worst.

Everything seemed to be normal for the first few minutes, pyro simply bustled around the kitchen gathering ingredients, taking out a recipe book, what Jessie expected cooking to look like. What really bothered her though was the firecracker's flamethrower that sat waiting on the counter. It wasn't going to…use that, was it?

She didn't have to wait long for the answer to her question to become clear. Pyro went about stirring what seemed like sauce, preparing a chicken for…something. Then its hand reached out for its flamethrower. A flash of fire lit up the room, highlighting the room in an eerie, orange glow. Another flash, this time the flames coming so close to Jessie that she had to duck so as to avoid it.

Her heart racing in her ears, she covered her head with her arms and glued her eyes shut. After what seemed like an infinity, she finally heard the sound of the flamethrower being switched off and the excited mumbles of the pyro as it examined its masterpiece.

It was only then that the girl thought it safe enough to straighten up again, no longer in fear of being scorched alive. So THAT'S why the others had left. Shrugging away her shock and fear, she twisted around to observe what must have been a complete mess. Surprisingly though, the kitchen hadn't been burnt down in the process of pyro's…exciting…little cooking lesson. It now stood above what seemed like a roasted chicken, slowly beginning to cut the poultry up into slices and place it on separate plates.

The air suddenly changed from the overwhelming smell of smoke to a wonderful aroma that her stomach instantly reacted to. Oh, how nice it would be to take a bite and…Wait, was she drooling? Wiping her chin, she grinned widely and made her way over to pyro.

Leaning across the counter, Jessie's hand reached out to pick a piece of chicken off one of the plates but a gloved hand smacked hers away almost instantly. She looked up to see pyro leaning on one hip, looking down at her like a disapproving mother.

"What? I'm hungry!" Jessie whined, hand reaching out for a second attempt.

_Smack._

She began pouting, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly. She swear she heard pyro sigh, before it grabbed a plate and scooped up a meal. Jessie's grin spread from ear to ear, her olive eyes sparkling with happiness. The Pyro handed her the plate and she almost thrust it out of its grasp in her rush, beginning to chow down on her dinner before she had even reached the kitchen table.

Taking a seat, Jessie was almost halfway finished by the time she had sat down.

"Geeze, sheila, did they even feed ya back home?" Sniper commented from over by the counter, picking his own plate up. He grimaced down at the scorched food, the chicken was almost black. How did this girl actually like pyro's cooking? It was pretty much nothing but a pile of burnt bits.

"Leave ze girl alone, she has not eaten since yesterday" Medic's voice rang out from the door way, the doctor waltzing into the room with an air of authority that couldn't be ignored.

"Yuhh!" Jessie agreed with an over-enthusiastic nod, hardly understandable with all the food stuffed in her mouth.

Sniper sat down once more, grimacing. "And 'ey said oi had bad manners" He muttered to himself, shaking his head.

"Hey! At least I don't go wee wee in jars!" She retorted, this time swallowing before speaking up.

"It's a necessity" He coolly replied, poking at his dinner with his fork.

"Yeah, a freaking disgusting one at that. Can't ya just go to the toilet like a normal human being?" She stated, already getting up for seconds.

Sniper didn't reply to that, simply shaking his head silently. Medic took a seat next to Sniper, also grimacing down at the plate before him.

"Hey, hey, hey! Your prayers 'ave been answered! I'm back! Miss me? Of course ya did!" Scout voice boomed through the room, piercing the once peaceful silence. He bounced over to the table, practically jumping into the seat next to Jessie and nudging her.

She resisted the urge to tell him to stop. There were two things Jessie couldn't stand, and that was 'being touched when she was eating or doing something important' and 'sexist bastards'.

Jessie got up once again, making her way over to the counter to get some more food.

"Going for seconds already, are ya?" Scout shouted over to her with a smirk.

"Actually, mate, that'd be 'er third time going back for more" Sniper commented, and Scout's face instantly twisted into one of complete and utter shock.

"Thirds? Man, ah can't even survive one meal of pyro's cookin'!" He exclaimed, earning him a smack over the head from pyro who began screaming at him through his mask.

"Hmmph hmmph hmmmmmmph hmph hmmmphh!" It began, going crazy with hand gestures. To what this meant, no one had a clue.

Scout simply looked at it as though it were an alien, sending everyone a confused look that clearly said 'what the hell is it talking about?'.

Slowly, but surely, every member of RED spilled into the room and took their respective seat by the table. It was clear that no one wanted to eat any of the meal, but pyro simply leaned its hands on its hips and glared at the eight, scolding them and watching to make sure they ate every last bite of it like a hawk.

Jessie, however, had no problem eating it all up. Really, she was just glad that she was getting some sort of food into her system. Even if it was a little…burnt. She'd always had the appetite of a grown man, and it was only constant exercise and pure luck that ensured she stayed as skinny as she was.

She observed the group, grinning mentally to herself. They were all like a tightly woven family, a psychotic one at that, but a family nonetheless. The only one who was missing was…

"Gentlemen" The spy clear his voice, leaning against the doorframe with a cigarette leaning between his lips and something held tightly in his hand. "And Jessica" He added, glancing over at her. How he managed to talk and smoke at the same time would forever be a mystery to the girl.

"We have…A slight problem" He began, his face expressionless. He made his way to the table, having obtained everyone's attention by now, the smoke coming off his cigarette trailing behind him in a thin, grey line. He placed the packet in his hands on the table for everyone to see.

Scrawled on top of the brown covered box, in neat, big handwriting, was the name 'Jessica' clearly labelled across the top. Jessie instantly reached across the table, grabbing the package and sliding it closer to her. "Who, who sent it?" She asked breathlessly, her eyebrows furrowed.

"The Administrator"

It was like those two words switched on everyone's emotions. In a split second, everyone had gone tense, and begun to yell at each other. They screamed out reasons for the package, what to do with it and a bunch of other stuff that melded into one big storm of words.

"Everybody-" She began quietly, trying to get their attention.

"Could you plea-" She tried again.

"I think-"

"Maybe-"

"EVERYBODY! SHUT THE HELL UP!" She screamed, jumping from her chair and almost knocking it over in the progress. That was fortunately enough to get everyone civilized again, yet it was clear the once happy atmosphere had disappeared.

"I," She began calmly, trying to speak as quietly as possible. "Am opening this package, whether you like it or not. Does ANYONE have a problem with that?" Her voice was woven with determination, and everyone stayed silent.

Everyone except Scout.

"Jess-" He began in an almost pleading voice, but one ice cold glare from Jessie shut him up. Now that that was settled, Jessica looked back down at the package in front of her. Slowly, cautiously, she began attempting to peel off the wrapping in an orderly manner, but, her curiosity got the better of her and she ended up giving up on patience all together and tearing through the wrapping like an animal.

She didn't know what she had expected, a bomb or something, but this was not it. Before her was another box and a yellow envelope, her name clearly written on the front of it once again. Taking a deep breath, she picked up the envelope and slowly opened it up. She could tell everyone was holding their breath, and she gave each one of them a glance, before she read the neatly written letter aloud.

_Hello Jessica,_

_I have been informed that you have stumbled into the RED base. Our cooperation aims to hire capable people, just like you! Congratulations, but you have stumbled onto the opportunity of a lifetime! We are offering your chance to become part of our company, and part of the RED team._

_To prove yourself worthy for this spot, however, you will need to survive one battle with NO RESPAWN. If you succeed, you will officially be given your own class! You will begin next week, on Monday._

_I wish you the best of luck,_

_The Administrator._

That was it, no further explanation. It didn't even seem like she had a choice in the matter! Instantly, everyone around her erupted into a roar of objections. Taking this moment as a distraction, Jessie slowly took off the lid of the box with trembling fingers and peer inside. Nothing too special, some clothes, girl necessities, etc. Placing the lid back on, she glanced up again.

"Guys, guys, I'M NOT GOING TO DO IT" She screamed, gaining their attention once more.

"It is not that simply, _mademoiselle_" Spy began, butting out his cigarette underneath his foot before reaching for a new one. "You see, you already know too much. You have two options. Agree to this, request, from the administrator, or…Well, I will just tell you that they will NOT let you go freely. You already know too much"

Jessie drank the information in, biting her lip and considering both options. Finally, realization hit her.

"You mean, if I decline this, they'll…kill me?" She replied, feeling as though the wind had been punched out of her lungs.

"Oui"

A whole game, with no respawn. Monday. One week to practice.

In the words of the Sniper, _aw, piss. _


	4. Chapter 4

**What's that? Two chapters in one day? Yes! And I wrote both of them today too...So...**

**I was meant to be studying, but I'll do all that shiz on Sunday. Instead, I spent the whole day on my Surface writing this...because I have no social life. Yay! :D Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

"THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS! WOMEN SHOULD BE AT HOME, CLEANING! NOT OUT ON THE BATTLEFIELD!" The Soldier screamed out in outrage, only a bit louder than his 'normal' tone of voice.

"Excuse me?" Jessie stepped up, crossing her arms over her chest and raising an eyebrow.

"YOU HEARD ME! WOMEN ARE NOT FIT FOR WAR" He exclaimed again.

Oh, this guy really knew how to grind Jessie's nerves. It was people like this that she couldn't stand, sexist, rude…Her fists unconsciously balled up, her nails digging into her palms so hard that she almost started bleeding.

"Women are just as good as men, they can do just as good, if not better, on the battlefield and you…you…You're just so sexist! How can you even think that?!" During her little rant, Jessica had unconsciously begun to step toward the man.

She was now only inches away from him. It would have been ridiculous, her trying to glare down at the man, but somehow she managed it despite him towering over her. Jessie had always been incredibly short, and she was even shorter than Scout by a great amount.

Both of the two's faces were contorted with anger, and if Soldier's eyes weren't covered by his helmet, Jessie was sure that they would have been a sea of anger. She was so close to punching him in the face right now. Sure, he was a lot stronger than her, but she could take him on…She had been in plenty of fights, why not start one right now? She needed to teach him some manners, all it would take was one, quick punch to the-

Before she could do anything, a pair of hands were pulling her away from the other mercenary.

"Let me go!" She screamed, struggling against their grasp, but their grip was iron and unmoving. From across the room, Jessie could see the Engineer and Sniper struggling to pull the Soldier back as well, a colourful array of curse words and insults pouring from his mouth.

Finally, the two managed to drag the mercenary into another room. However, his shouting could still be heard from down the hall. "That's right punk! Ya better walk away!" She screamed back, still struggling to rip out of whomever was holding her back's grasp and hunt the Soldier down to finish this once and for all.

However, the cool steel of a blade against her neck quickly calmed her twitching body and caused her breathing to hitch.

"Ztop moving" A french voice hissed in her ear, and she obliged. It was like the only way for her to actually collect her thoughts and think over her actions was when put in the balance of life and death. Once the Spy was sure the girl had calmed down, she finally released her from his grasp.

Jessie sighed, straightening out her clothes and flopping down onto the couch in defeat. She rubbed her temple in frustration, bottling up her anger again and fighting off the urge to kill Soldier. What had she been thinking, Soldier could have killed her!

The answer, she wasn't thinking. She had let her instincts take over her rational mind. She sighed, she had to work on that.

"Wot was that!?" Sniper stated from the doorway, obviously having calmed down Soldier as well. Either that, or locked him up somewhere. Judging by the stubbornness Soldier seemed to have, it was probably the latter.

"What?" I defensively shot back, trying to act as though nothing had just happened. I pulled myself into a sitting position, avoiding eye contact.

"You know very well 'wot'" He began, coming to stand before her. She dared a glance up, a very bad decision on her part. Sniper was absolutely steaming, which didn't help Jessie calm down. How could he be angry at her? It was all Soldier's fault!

"Soldier started it!" She began, realizing how childish it sounded. "I mean, he's just…" She tried to explain, but she was at a loss of words. "Argh!" She shouted as she fell face first, frustrated with her incompetence, her voice muffled by one of the pillows.

She could barely hear Sniper's footsteps as he walked away, hopefully leaving.

"Madmoiselle, perhaps you should consider ze conzequences next time" Spy simply shook his head, taking a drag out of his cigarette before leaving. Groaning, Jessie simply ignored him and pulled herself up onto her feet.

To her relief, everyone had taken this moment as a cue to leave. Again, everyone except Scout. What? Did he not like being 'mainstream' or some shit?

"Man, that was…That was freakin' amazin'!" He finally blurted out, looking at her in complete awe.

"What?" She replied, completely shocked. That was not a reaction she had expected from anyone. "If anything, that was just a mess" She sighed, rubbing her temples to try and fight back the headache she could feel coming on.

"Nah, ya don' get it! No one's ever stood up ta solly like dat! Man, you got guts kid." He continued, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I'm no kid" She muttered, shaking her head. He was only a few years older than her, and the last time she checked, 18 counted as an adult.

"Whatever. What I'm tryin' to say is, you're al'ight, dude." Scout brushed off her comment, continuing to stare at her.

Jessie was beginning to feel uncomfortable, she could practically feel his eyes examining her. She cleared her throat, looking up from the floor and meeting his gaze.

The action was enough for him to get the clue, and he finally shook his head and broke eye contact. "C'mon, I was sent ta show ya your room." He shouted over his shoulder, already beginning to jog out of the recreation room.

Knowing how fast Scout could be, Jessie quickly followed after she picked her 'package' up. She tried her best to keep up with him, but by the time they came to the stop she was double over and panting. Out of breath, her throat dry. Scout, on the other hand, didn't even look winded. Damn, she needed to work out more. Which was saying something, because she tended to work out every day.

"Hey, nice pace there" He nudged her, and she waved her hand once in the air as a reply, too tired to say anything else in reply. "Here it is" He stated the obvious, pulling open the door in front of them. Jessie, pulling herself up and forcing herself to walk, found herself in the middle of her new bedroom. So this is where she was going to be spending most of her time, for god only knew how long.

It was pretty average really, around the same size of her room back home. A single bed was crammed to one side, a bedside table placed next to it. On the other side, a set of drawers. That was it. However, what really caught her eye was the window. It overlooked the back side of the building, and she silently grinned to herself. She must have had the best view out of everyone.

"This was jus' an empty room, but I fixed it up myself" Scout stated smugly, a look of pure pride glued on his face.

"Er, thanks" She replied, before realizing how unsure she sounded. She smiled, turning around to face him. "No, really, thank you" She stated again, this time a bit more confidently. Turning on her heel, she carefully placed the box she had been carrying and placed it squarely on the top of the bedside table.

She wanted to check more thoroughly what was in there, the short glimpse she had gotten earlier not providing her much information, but she felt like she had to be alone when she did.

"It was no problem, the furniture was heavy, nothin' I couldn't handle though!" He firmly explained, causing Jessie to smile slightly. He reminded her of a little kid, so overconfident.

"Um, it's pretty late and I was kind of thinking of heading to sleep…" Jessie began, rubbing her neck nervously. Scout stared at her for a few minutes before it dawned on him.

"Oh, right! I gotta be headin' off anyway. It's, pretty late" He replied.

"Yeah, but this was..."

"Yeah"

"Really, thanks again"

"Anytime, man."

Jessie nodded, looking back down at her feet.

"Er," Scout began, for the first time since she had met him actually at a loss of words. He seemed to be just as bad as goodbyes as she was. "If ya need me, I'm jus' down the hall. Everyone's room is." He stated.

"Thanks"

"Night" He said, before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Sighing in relief, Jessie was finally left alone with her thoughts. Rubbing her aching back, she fell onto the bed and glanced around her room.

Right, the box.

Almost unconsciously, she felt her hands grip the box and rest it on her lap. The lid was pulled off, and her thin fingers carefully pulled each thing out one at a time and placed it in their respective drawers.

Elastics, other hair products such as shampoo, pyjamas, clean clothes and some girl necessities were the first things to be pulled out. Each one would only last her one week, as though they simply assumed that she wouldn't make the challenge…She shivered. Is that why they did this?

Did they not think she could survive their challenge? Was this some twisted way of getting rid of her without getting their hands dirty? Well, she would prove them wrong. She nodded in determination, and with that thought, looked down at the remaining objects inside.

Only three.

First object was a black bandanna, and unwrapping it, she examined the picture printed on the front of it. It was a simple picture of a skeleton of the mouth. Honestly, it was pretty cool. Placing it aside, she pulled up the very last two of her 'possessions'.

A jumpsuit with a turtleneck collar, completely black except for a red stripe that ran around her waist. It was long enough to cover her whole legs, but cut off where the sleeves should have been. Then a pair of knee high black boots. Trying the shoes on, she was completely shocked at how comfortable the shoes were. How had they known her shoe size?

It must have been a guess…Right?

Another shiver ran down her spine, but she shook the feeling away. It had to be a lucky guess.

Pulling them off, she was about to place the box down when her eyes glimpsed the note stuck to the bottom of the cardboard box. Confused, she reached down and allowed her eyes to sweep over the writing.

'_Jumpsuit, bandanna and boots are to be worn during battle. NO other time may it be worn._

_You are required to make sure no one knows of your gender on the opposite team, to make sure no advantages are in your favour._

_Weapons will be borrowed from the other classes.'_

Again, a simply message with only a brief explanation. She shook her head, placing the note back down. It seemed perfectly harmless, but there was something suspicious about how it was written.

The last sentence. It didn't read, 'for now, weapons will be borrowed', it was written as though after that one battle she wouldn't even be alive to acquire her own weapons.

She shook her head. She was being way too paranoid.

Placing everything away and getting dressed in her new pyjamas, she sighed and laid down on the bed.

All these events were messing with her mind. She had to sleep.

Yawning, she allowed her eyelids to slowly slide down.

* * *

"WAKE UP MAGGOTS!"

Soldier's voice boomed through the hall, startling Jessie out of her sleep. She groaned, rolling over onto her back. What time was it? Squinting, she managed to crack her eyelids open enough to look out her window. The sun was barely up! What the hell?

She flipped onto her stomach again, pulling her pillow over her head to block out all sounds. She was almost able to fall asleep again when a voice sounded from the door.

"Jess! Hey! Man! Open up!" Scout yelled, his voice even loud through the wood.

Jessica simply let out a loud moaning noise, something that was supposed to resemble a 'leave me alone'.

Of course, Scout wasn't going to actually follow her request. Instead, he swung open the door with a resounding bang and jogged up to her bed.

"Yo! Man! It's 5am, time to get up! Ya got trainin' today, remember?" He shouted, nudging the mass underneath the covers.

Jessie simply grunted in reply, pulling her blanket over her head to try and block out the outside world.

"C'mon!" He encouraged, poking her in the side.

Nothing. Nothing but a groan in reply.

"Fine, ah didn't want to do dis but ya forced my hand…" He began. Before Jessie could even react, Scout grabbed her by the ankles and attempted to literally drag her out of bed.

Jessie, determined to sleep in, grabbed the top of the bed and held on for her life.

"How...are….ya…so….strong" Scout grunted, slightly panting from the effort of trying to pry the girl out of bed. He let go and she fell onto the mattress with a thud. She instantly snuggled back into the covers, her body relaxing once again.

Scout stood there, watching her, for a few minutes, wandering what exactly he should do. Finally, he reached down and grabbed the corner of the blanket. With a quick jerk, the blanket flew off the bed and away from Jessie.

"Let me sleeeppp" She pleaded in return, snuggling her face in the pillow to block out the bright light that attempted to invade her vision. Fine, she didn't need her blanket anyway. It was far too hot with it on.

"C'mon! This is impossible!" Scout commented, and Jessie could practically feel the frustration woven into his voice.

"Wot is?" Sniper's voice sounded from the doorway, peering in from out in the hallway.

"She won't get up, Snipes!" He complained, gesturing toward the mass.

Sniper simply smirked in reply. "I'll get the Jarate" He replied after a suspenseful silence.

Those four words were enough to jolt Jessie from her sleepy trance.

"NOOO!" She protested, jumping onto her feet in a flash. "Do NOT bring your pee anywhere near me!" She screamed, her face dead serious.

Her reaction earned a smirk from Sniper, and downright laughter from Scout.

"What, what's so funny? 'Ey, paper boy, stop laughing! It ain't funny!" She shouted, grinding her teeth.

That, caught Scout's attention. "I ain't no 'paper boy'" He replied. Well, at least that had stopped his laughter. However, it did start Sniper chuckling. He glared at Jessie then over at Sniper.

"Whatever you say, man." She dismissed absentmindedly, already pushing the two mercenaries out the door. She swung it closed, yawning. She could feel her eyelids beginning to droop. Oh, her bed looked so comfortable right now…

No, she had training.

Reluctantly, she peeled off her simple white pyjama t-shirt and black shorts, getting ready for what had to be a long, long day.

* * *

"Sco…ut…Ca-can we just…Take a break" She breathed, her throat dry and hoarse from dehydration. She was barely keeping up with the Bostonian. Sure, she had actually been keeping up with his speed at the start…but that was three hours. They had been running around the backside of 2Fort, going to the very edge of the border before running back.

She had lost count of how many laps they had done after 21. Now, all her mind could do was plead her to stop and rest.

She pretty much collapsed to the floor, falling onto her back and staring up at the sky as she tried to catch her breath.

"Why'd ya stop?" Scout jogged back to her, staring down at her. She squinted against the bright light, her hand shading her eyes so she could look up at him.

"Are you kidding me? We've been running for hours! I…I need a break" She replied, still a bit breathlessly.

Scout sighed, obviously slightly annoyed, before his familiar condescending smirk plastered itself on his face.

"Tell ya what, if ya can beat me back to the buildin' we can stop trainin' and take a break"

"And?" She continued, arching an eyebrow and beckoning him to continue.

"I'll give ya my dessert for a week"

Food. Not just food, but dessert. Even better!

A determined look sweeping over her face, she instantly jumped to her feet and smirked at the Scout. "Deal" She agreed, reaching her hand out for a handshake.

Scout's grin widened even further, if that was even possible, and he reached out for her hand.

Taking this as the perfect moment, she quickly began to sprint back toward the base, leaving Scout looking down at his hand in shock. "See you at the base, paper boy!" She screamed over her shoulder, her legs pumping and her heart beating in her ears. That comment was enough to break through Scout's shock and he was soon speeding behind her, chuckling all the way.

It was nice, sprinting at full speed. The burning of your legs, the wind brushing against your face. Sometimes, when she was little, Jessie would sprint as quickly as she could. She'd run and run, as though hoping that if she ran fast enough she could outrun all her problems and worries.

It never worked.

Shaking the thoughts from her mind, she focused back on what was really important.

Food.

Daring a glance back, she could see Scout was gaining on her. And quickly.

Pumping up the level, she flung forward and went into full speed. She was practically leaping with each step, the thought of food driving her on. She knew she'd be regretting this later, but for this moment she was pumped up. She didn't think she could stop running even if she wanted to anymore.

A flash of red in the corner of her eye. She didn't need to look over to know what it was.

"Hey, nice joggin', but I reckon ya should try sprintin' if ya wanna stand a chance at beatin' the master" He shouted, and she rolled her eyes. His insults only fired up her determination, and despite the inability to feel her legs any longer, she forced herself to run even faster.

Still, Scout was already beginning to overtake her.

No, this couldn't be happening. She couldn't lose, she wouldn't let herself lose. Not this time. Fired up at the thought of dessert and the fact that if she didn't beat him she'd have to continue training, she tailed behind him. The building was coming into her field of vision now, a towering mass in the distance. They were getting closer, closer…

Jessie couldn't outrun Scout. He was too fast. She tried her best, but she was always just behind him. She swore she could hear him chuckling, which only made her more frustrated. Was he even trying his best? She sure was.

The base was so close now, only a couple of metres, and her heart started sinking. No! She didn't want to train anymore!

Just then, she saw a flash of red in the corner of her eyes. Scout was no longer in front of her. In fact he was barely following her. Furrowing her brows, but keeping a quick pace, she looked over her shoulder to see Scout picking himself off the floor.

No way, it couldn't be! Scout had tripped, over his own two feet it seemed. It was a miracle, she was going to win!

Just then, she almost ran face first into the wall of the building. Luckily, she managed to just fling her hands up to save herself from a broken nose. The sudden stop of running saw the end of her determination and fire, and she just realized how quick her blood was pumping and how heavy her breathing had gotten.

Her knees buckled underneath her and she fell to the ground in exhaustion, sliding down the wall to rest against it. She rubbed her neck, realizing that it was slick with sweat. Yes, she was definitely sweating. A lot. She mentally made sure to put 'have a shower' on her mental checklist.

She closed her eyes, just enjoying a rest. That's it, she was never going to exercise again.

"Man, that sucks! I tripped!" Scout's exasperated voice rang in her ears, and she grudgingly opened her eyes to look at him.

"Too bad. You still need'a stick to your end of deal though" She stated in complete confidence, pulling herself up and crossing her arms over her chest.

"Fine" He waved her off dismissively. Wait, was Scout…panting? No, Jessie must have been imagining it. Jessie quickly shook the thought away.

"Yes! Dessert, I'm coming for you!" She shouted out in victory, doing a mini victory dance in happiness. She was practically jumping up and down on the spot.

* * *

"Ya know, I didn't think ya were so fast" Scout admitted, taking a big gulp of water afterwards to emphasis his point.

Jessie shrugged in reply, taking a sip of her own water. "I like dessert" She replied, as though it was a perfectly great explanation.

Scout looked as though he was about to say something else, but a voice behind the two silenced him.

"I do believe it iz my turn to train ze girl, oui?"

Jessie twisted around, only to come face to face with the spy. Or should she say, face to mask. Did he ever take that thing off? It was burning hot, and somehow he managed to keep it on no matter what the temperature.

Focusing back on the situation, Jessie frowned at the idea of more exercise. Normally, she would have liked doing exercise, no better activity to blow off some steam, but after that particularly long run…Well, she wasn't too pleased. Still, they had a training schedule that was there to ensure that she got training from every class, ensuring she was in tiptop shape for the battle next week.

Reluctantly, Jessie bid Scout goodbye and jumped off the kitchen counter. Shrugging the thought of sleep away, she follwed Spy, making sure to not expose her back to him. Ever. Just because he was on 'their team', didn't mean he wasn't a traitor.


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, this chapter ahs a lot of time skipping, etc. I didn't want to bore you with heaps of details about training and such, so I kind of skimmed through some of the classes. (I may write separate, short one-scenes where I show what happened during those training lessons) **

**So, yeah, it basically skips a few times...Sorry about that, you have been warned in advance. Without further-a-due, here is chapter 5:**

* * *

"Where are we going?"

Jessie had been following behind the spy for heavens knew how long, and they were twisting into a part of the building Jessie didn't even knew existed. She was getting more nervous by the minute, resorting to fidget with her clothes and try at a conversation to try and calm the feeling.

She tried to remember where they had come from, just in case she had to make a run for it. She could outrun him, but if he managed to grab her before she had time to-

"Curiousity killed ze cat"

His voice broke through her thoughts, and only then did she remember that she had asked him a question. Huh, she hadn't expected him to answer her. Not that he really answered her, instead he had the audacity to answer her question with an overused quote.

"Satisfaction brought it back" She muttered underneath her breath, eyes drinking in their surroundings. Nothing too exciting, just a wooden hall like every other that twisted through the building.

"Maybe" His voice came from behind her…But how could that be? He had been right-

The cool steel of metal against her skin broke through her thoughts, and she instinctively froze and thought over every possible way of getting out of his grasp. Dammit, why had she for a second thought this man was on her side? Why had she even taken her eyes off him for a second? She mentally cursed, but remained silent.

"Lesson number une, never take your eyez off ze enemy" She could feel his breath in her ear, and she grimaced at the smell of smoke that overwhelmed her nose.

Oh, so that's how it was going to be.

Well, this training just got a little bit more interesting.

Feeling her instincts taking over, the first thing she thought of was to elbow him in the gut.

Too bad he expected exactly that. All he had to do was sidestep a tiny bit, causing his knife to dig even deeper into her neck.

"Lesson number deux, never do what your opponent expects" He calmly breathed, and she could practically hear the smugness behind his tone.

He let her go, and she unconsciously rubbed her neck where the knife had once been. She glared at him, and he simply raised an eyebrow before motioning toward an open door.

Hesitantly, and still glaring, she made her way toward it. Keeping her eyes on him, she carefully stepped inside. Instantly, a grin spread across her face. The room was huge, with padded walls and padded floors. Over to the left were basic gym equipment, taking up half of the room.

She was definitely going to have to remember the way here, she already knew that this would be where she was going to spend most of her time. If she'd known about this earlier, she would have suggested training in here to Scout rather than out in the hot, blistering desert sun.

"Ahem"

Once again, Spy's voice broke her out of her thoughts. She really needed to start paying more attention to her surroundings.

"Let uz begin" He stated, motioning for her to proceed. "Come, try to beat me"

Jessie stared at him for a few seconds, shocked by his forwardness, before quickly shaking the feeling off. Alright, if that's what he wanted.

Instantly, she readjusted her position to punch him in the gut.

Her fist cut through the air, but his left hand stopped it in its path. Grunting, she readjusted her position and attempted to knee him in the stomach, but he twisted her around before she got the chance and had his knife pressed against her skin in a split second.

He let her go just as fast, however, and slowly shook his head.

"You are too predictable. Again" His words were cold, his face expressionless. This was going to a long few hours.

Blowing a strand of her hair out of her face, she took a deep breath and steadied her thoughts. Making sure to not adjust her position first, she simply went for the fast approach. Without a second thought, her fist came rocketing into his stomach.

_Thud. _His palm stopped her fist in its path yet again. Jessie was determined, however, and the block wasn't going to stop her. Almost instantly, she sprung back into action.

_Whoosh._

_Thud._

_Whoosh._

_Thud._

Only after a few minutes, Spy had his knife aimed for her stomach. She grinded her teeth, collecting herself again.

"You're a zmart girl, use it to your advantage." He began, tapping his head. "Think."

She nodded, focusing on the goal at hand. She narrowed her eyes, the only thoughts revolving around her opponent.

This time, he took the offense. Stepping forward, he swung his knife for her throat. She saw it coming, however, and quickly ducked. Along with her dodge, her left leg swung out to collide with the Spy's ankle in an attempt to throw him off balance. He took a step back in shock, and she used his moment of hesitation to her advantage.

Leaping onto her feet, she swung forward as though she was going for an uppercut. Only, at the last minute, her right hand crashed into his wrist, knocking his blade out of his grip. Then, she swung for his face again.

Yet, like always, his hand intercepted her attack. He grasped onto her upper arm, strong enough to leave bruises. She bit back a scream of pain, instead heading for a kick to the stomach. He saw it coming and his hand grasped her ankle, twisting it so that she lost her balance and fell back onto the ground.

She couldn't believe it. She had lost. Again.

Groaning, she stumbled to her feet and rubbed her aching head. That was going to hurt tomorrow.

"Your opponents will be ztronger zen you, you can no longer require on brute force. You are zmall, fragile" He began, and she resisted the urge to punch him in the face. He would have just intercepted it anyway.

"Gee, thanks for the compliment. Ever thought of becoming an inspirational speaker?" She replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"What I waz getting to," he replied, his eyes narrowing in annoyance. "Iz zat strength is not your strength. Your size, whilst it can be a weakness, can alzo be your greatest strength. Your choice" he shrugged, reaching for a cigarette and placing it between his lips.

She grimaced, watching as he lit it up and took a long drag. He was right, and she hated him for it. It was so infuriating, he was always right. And, it would seem, she was always wrong. However, no matter him being a possible traitor, his advice was solid.

She sighed, nodding reluctantly.

"Good, now if you want to survive on the battlefield, you must do whatever I say. Oui?"

She bit down the snarky reply she was about to retort with, instead thinking it over. He had a lot of experience, and this could the information she needed to survive in the life or death situation that was war.

"Fine" She replied, although it was clear that she did not like it.

"Then let us begin, mon petite"

"Alright, but I am NOT 'yours'. Vous êtes une bibliothèque" She shot back, insulting him in French.

She had intended the last part of her sentence to be insulting, and be revenge for him being for smug all the time. Instead, it only made him laugh.

Spy, laugh? She had hardly ever seen him smile before! Yet here he was, doubled over, clutching his stomach as he laughed his lungs out.

"What? What's so funny?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, mademoiselle." He cleared his throat, straightening himself up. "You simply just called me a library"

Jessie could feel her cheeks beginning to burn, resisting the urge to face palm. Whoops, her bad. She could tell Spy was about to break down from laughter yet again.

Yes, this was definitely going to be a long training session.

* * *

"Where are ya from?"

The sudden question took the girl by surprise, and Jessie looked up from her plate to raise her eyebrows at Scout. He was sitting there as though he hadn't just abruptly blurt the question out, chewing thoughtfully on his dinner.

She positioned herself more comfortably on the floor, looking back down at her dinner. They were sitting on the floor of her bedroom. She had considered eating dinner in the kitchen like normally, but the thought of seeing Soldier again had squished that option. She was certain that she or he would end up breaking into a fight again.

"Pardon?" She focused back on her surroundings, looking over at Scout as she placed a forkful of spaghetti in her mouth.

"Where were ya born, I mean" He explained, and Jessie took another bite before answering.

"Oh. I was born in Sweden, raised in Australia though" She shrugged, practically breathing in her food.

"Australia?! But ya don't talk like Snipes!" He exclaimed, his mouth hanging open to reveal a bunch of half-chewed food.

Jessie scoffed, shaking her head. "I know" She shrugged, thinking it over. "I guess I developed my parent's accent instead"

Scout thought it over, before nodding in acceptance. "That makes sense, I guess. Do ya know any Switzerlandish?" He asked.

Jessie sighed, rolling her eyes. "I'm from Sweden, not Switzerland. And yes, I know _Swedish_" She corrected.

"Whatever." He dismissed. "Go on, say somethin'"

Jessie tapped her chin thoughtfully, thinking of something that would entertain him. She was was certain a simple 'hello' in Swedish wouldn't suffice.

"Du har en liten hjärna" She finally replied with, grinning.

"What does that mean?"

"That you have a small brain" She stated, before breaking into a fit of laughter.

"Hey!" He shouted, although even she could see he was holding back a grin.

* * *

An insistent knocking woke Jessie from her once peaceful sleep, and she tried to block out the annoying noise.

"Sheila? Are you awake?"

No reply.

"Sheila?"

Still nothing.

"Don't make me get my Jarate"

That got a response. Sniper could hear Jessie's loud groan even through the door.

"Fine! I'm up, I'm up!" She half-yawned, stumbling onto her feet and attempting to blink away her sleep. She stretched out her limbs, heading for the dresser. She felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on her body, and she had to limp when she walked. Damn, she had forgotten to stretch the other day. Well, this would be interesting.

She swore she could hear Sniper chuckling, but she wasn't sure if it was her imagination or not. For his sake, she let it slide

"Alroight, meet me in the kitchen when you're ready" She listened for his footsteps as he wandered away.

Yawning, she grabbed her shirt, shorts, socks and sneakers. Well, this day couldn't be any more tiring than the last, she convinced herself. She only hoped she was right.

* * *

"Crikey! Wot happened to you, mate?" Sniper greeted as she stepped into the kitchen. She furrowed her eyebrows, following his gaze to her body. Covering all her arms and legs were purple and blue bruises. Shit, how had she not noticed? In her defence, she hadn't actually seen herself in a mirror today. Honestly, she hadn't even brushed her hair today, instead sweeping it into a ponytail to keep it out of her way.

"Training" She honestly replied, shrugging. Sniper examined her face a little more before finally accepting it as it was.

"Foine. Let's go then" He found his way to his feet from the couch, beginning to head out the door.

"Wait, what about breakfast?"

"Miss it"

Miss it? Miss it?! No way was she missing a mealtime! Not ever, nu-uh. She jogged to the cupboard and pulled out the first things she saw. Choking down the piece of plain bread, she washed it down with milk. Straight from the carton. Oh well, there was no time to be clean.

"Zat, is disgusting" A voice sounded from her left, and she knew it was Spy simply from his accent. She glanced over at him, his face contorted in disgust.

She simply shrugged, taking another gulp out of the carton to emphasis the point that 'she didn't care what he thought', before placing it back in the fridge.

"That, is disgusting" She retorted, nodding over to his cigarette. He simply shook his head, turning away from her.

Whatever, she had to go anyway. Sprinting out the kitchen, almost knocking over a lamp in the process, she found Sniper outside leaning against a wall. "Well, stop wasting time. Let's go" She shouted over at him as she passed him.

"Bloody wanker" He whispered under his breath, but pushed himself off the wall anyway.

* * *

"Like this?"

Jessie held the pistol out in front of her, closing one eye to try and get a better view, before pulling the trigger

_Bang._

The bullet whizzed through the air, heading straight passed the nearby target. "Shit." She cursed, relaxing her hands back to their sides and running her free hand through her hair in frustration. They had been out here for hours now, trying to work on her aim. The target was ten meters away, roughly, and shaped to look like a silhouette of a man. She was meant to be hitting its head, but she had no such luck.

No matter how many times she tried, she just couldn't aim.

"Don't worry, mate, you'll get the hang of it" Sniper tried to encourage her, walking up and correcting her stance probably.

With a sigh, she began getting ready to fire.

"You should go apologize, you know"

_Bang._

The bullet hit the very outside of the target, on one of the arms.

"Apologize to who?" She lied, looking genuinely confused. Sniper crossed his arms of his chest, tipping his hat down below his eyes.

"Don't play coy, you bloody well know what I meant. You should apologize to the Soldier"

_Bang._

The bullet hit the neck, sure, it would kill someone in real life, but it wasn't what she was aiming for. Her muscles tensed up, and she busied herself by reloading the gun. Stalling the topic for as long as she could.

"I don't have anything to apologize for, if anything, he should be the one saying sorry" She shrugged, getting into stance again.

"You're both so bloody stubborn! Look, you both said some wrong things! Just fucking apologize to him!" He shot back, straightening himself up to glare at her.

_Bang._

Headshot.

She whipped round on her heel, coming face to face with the bushman. "I am not apologizing for something I didn't do!" She shot back, waving her hands in the air in frustration.

"Well, you're gonna have a fucking brilliant time during Soldier's training tomorrow, then, won't ya?" He snapped back sarcastically.

Jessie simply huffed in return, throwing her gun on the floor before swinging around and walking away. She wasn't going to put up with this. Why should she apologize? It wasn't her that was the sexist, rude bastard. So, what did she have to be sorry for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

"Where ya going!? We're not finished here!" He shouted back at her, a look of complete shock and anger on his face.

Without even looking back, she raised one hand and flipped him the bird.

* * *

Her fist collided with the wood, splintering it into tiny, sharp pricks. Speaking of pricks, what the hell was Sniper on about? She shouldn't have to say sorry to the Soldier, nor had she any reason to apologize to the Sniper himself. After all, it was all their fault.

She swung her fist again, this time splintering the wood even further.

I mean, sure, she had been a bit aggressive and maybe she had brought the situation on herself…Still, she didn't have to apologize.

Another swing, another deathly crack.

Nope, no feeling sorry for her. She had a right to her own opinion, and to voice her thoughts, so why should she be sorry about that? Of course, didn't they have their own opinions too? She didn't know what they'd been through, maybe they had a good reason…

Her fist cut through the air again, yet this time it didn't hit wood. This time it hit brick. Cold, really hard brick. She cried out in pain, finally breaking down from her fit of anger to examine what she had done.

She had punched the wall right through until the brick layer, and even continued punching at that. The blood covering her right fist was evidence to this. She hissed in pain again, trying not to move her hand too much. Well, this seemed like the perfect opportunity for her practice session with medic.

* * *

"Jessica! Vat happened!" The Medic stopped petting his dove Archimedes to look up at the girl, examining the blood that dripped from her handle and onto his once clean floor.

She looked down at her fist, moving it around so that the light caught it in different ways, before looking back up at the Medic. "I punched a wall" She shrugged. "Can you wrap it up or something?" She suggested, and Medic finally shook out of his haze.

"Vat? Oh! Ja, ja. Zat I can do. I've seen injuries much vorse zan zis, come, sit down" He explained, patting the chair in front of him as he carefully placed the bloody bird up on a perch. She shivered, wondering whose blood that really was, and then deciding she'd rather not know.

She obediently did what she was told, holding her hand out for the Medic to examine. He wrapped it up critiquelly and almost painfully slow, his facial expression never changing. You could see by just examining his hard, set eyes and nimble fingers to know that he was good at what he did. That being one of his talents, his other being killing things. Quite a contradiction, yes?

When he was done, he got her to promise him that she wouldn't go around punching any more walls, saying it was a 'waste of his precious time'. She agreed, before reminding him of their training session. The Medic frowned, pulling up his sleeve and looking down at his watch.

"But zat does not start until an hour," He began, looking back over at her. "You're meant to be practicing with ze Sniper"

"Well, we had a bit of an argument" She looked down at her hands, fidgeting with her bandages.

"Argument? He did not do this, right!?"

Jessie quickly shot up, shaking her head quickly. "No! 'Course not! Otherwise he'd be back at the respawn" She joked.

The Medic did not laugh, instead he simply nodded. "Very vell, ve might as well" He agreed.

The next few hours were spent teaching her how to use a medikit, something that she could be found throughout the building during battle, and other ways to heal injuries.

"Are you sure you're qualified to teach me this?" She questioned at one point. The sentence 'You did lose your medical license' unspoken but heard by both of them.

"Ja, ja. It is fine" He had simply replied, waving her away dismissively.

She didn't object, afraid that he might decide to saw her open in the name of 'medicine' if she did.

* * *

Time seemed to speed by Jessie, all the events of the week blurring into one big pool of memories. Engineer teaching her how to destroy sentry guns, almost getting hit trying to dodge one of his 'perfectly safe' sentries, Pyro simply mumbling to her for ten minutes before she made an excuse to leave his training session early, Demoman letting her use the grenade and sticky bomb launcher (and her nearly blowing up the entire building as an aftermath of that decision) and Heavy forcing her to make him a sandvich and then chasing her through the whole base after she attempted to punch him because of his request.

Yeah, Heavy still wasn't over that. I mean, it was over two hours ago! That guy needed to learn how to get over some grudges.

Jessie doubled over, panting and occasionally looking up to make sure Heavy wasn't anywhere to be seen. Her eyes also looked for two other mercenaries, Sniper and Soldier. She had managed avoiding them for the past two days, but she didn't know how long that streak would be able to last. And besides, she didn't very much enjoy eating every meal on the floor in her room. Sure, she had Scout as company, but she even got annoyed at him at times.

Even so, she really didn't want to know what would happen if she bumped into any of those three mercenaries. Shaking her head, she pushed off the wall and made her way downstairs. The afternoon sun filtered through the nearby window, illuminating the millions of specks of dust that floated through the air, and turning the base into the RED team's personal sauna.

She wiped a bead of sweat off her forehead, glad that she had picked out a singlet and pair of shorts today. Any more items of clothing, and she was sure she would have fainted from dehydration by now.

She was so busy daydreaming that she didn't even notice the dark, looming figure glaring down at her before she ran straight into it.

"Ow!" She grunted as she stepped back, rubbing her forehead. "Hey, watch where you're go-" She began, but her sentence cut off when her eyes took in who it was. The one person she really, really didn't want to see, let alone have as a trainer, right now.

Soldier.

* * *

**Let's count the number of mercenaries Jessie has managed to anger in the six days she has been in TF2!**

**So, there's the Solly, Heavy aaannddd Sniper. That makes three! Yayyy!**

**Wow, Jessie isn't the best people's person...**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hi everyone!**

**So, this chapter, as you may notice, isn't as long as the past ones.**

**I'm writing a novel, so my main focus at the moment is on that. However, I will still be continuing this :) The chapters will simply be around this length from now on, hope you don't mind?**

* * *

"Soldier…" Jessie breathed, feeling dread wash over her like a storm. She straightened up, trying to gauge Soldier's reaction. That would have been much more effective if she could actually see his eyes underneath his helmet…Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

He didn't even reply, or acknowledge her, instead pushing passed her and heading down the hallway. At any other time, Jessie would have been fine with this. She was still angry at the mercenary for insulting her gender, and for basically being a complete jerk, but this was their training session…

He was going to teach her something, whether he liked it or not. "Hey!" She shouted to him. He didn't even look back, his pace as steady as ever.

She gritted her teeth, man, and she had been told she could hold grudges. Breaking into a jog, she quickly caught up with the man. "Hey, buddy, it's our training session" She pointed out, looking up at him expectantly.

The Soldier stared straight ahead, his mouth set in a tight line. Finally, he spoke.

"Do you know how to cook?"

Jessie furrowed her eyebrows, tilting her head slightly. Where was he going with this? "Yeah, kinda"

"And cleaning? You know how to clean?" His voice was as loud as ever, but there was a hint of an extra hit of anger in his tone.

He looked over at her when she failed to reply, and she quickly nodded.

"Then that is all a woman should know, I do not need to teach you anymore"

Oh, this guy was simply looking for a fight. Her fists curled into tight fists involuntarily, and before she could even think, her hand was colliding straight into his jaw. He stumbled back, and Jessie promptly ignored the pain that was residing in her fist from the collision.

The Soldier quickly recovered, wiping away the blood that had dripped from his nose, and Jessie prepared for the worst.

Instead, Soldier simply stood up and continued walking.

Wait, what? He should have been furious, angry, he should have been fighting her right on the spot…Puzzled, she caught up with him and grabbed his elbow.

"Hey! I'm not done with ya yet!" She screamed, pulling him to a stop. Soldier whirled around on his heel, the abrupt action sending his helmet flying from his head and plummeting to the ground.

He glared her down, his eyes bulged out with anger and his muscles tense. "LISTEN HERE YOU MAGGOT! I WILL NOT FIGHT A WOMAN" He screamed, shrugging off her hand effortlessly.

She was too shocked to do anything but stand there, her mouth agape at the sudden burst of anger.

It took her a few minutes for her brain to process his words, but when they did, she instantly burst into action.

"What do you mean, 'ya won't fight a woman'? Women have as much right to fight as men, and I'll be damned if you even begin to think that they don'!" She screamed after him, her voice echoing through the building. She wouldn't be surprised if she could be heard from all the way over at the BLU base.

They were passing the main hallway now, and the other mercenaries were rushing out of their rooms and the rec room to witness the unfolding event. Everything happened so fast, no one was able to intervene before Soldier spoke again.

"SO YOU THINK WOMEN ARE AS GOOD AS MEN, EH?" He scoffed, and she could practically feel the distain in his words. "Prove it!" He motioned over to the scattered parts that were spread out over the kitchen table, and she looked up at Soldier as though he was crazy.

"What's this then?" She replied, her anger draining out of her as her eyes took in the scene in front of her.

"Parts of my rocket launcher. Put my weapon back together again, I will train you. Don't, and YOU WON'T BE BATTLING THIS WEEK" He ended his sentence by pounding his fist on the table, his face bright red with anger.

"Fine!" She screamed in reply, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs with enough force to break it and leaping into it. "I'll see you on the battlefield this week!" She shouted, hearing his footsteps beginning to walk away.

"IN YOUR DREAMS!" He shouted back. "AT LEAST YOU ARE WHERE YOU BELONG, IN THE KITCHEN!"

She bundled up her fists, punching the table in anger.

"Fuck!" She screamed, letting her anger seep out of her.

Without anger clouding her thoughts, she finally had time to actually process her task. Her eyes roamed over the different parts, and her hope died like a candle on a windy night.

There must have been over one hundred pieces in front of her!

No matter, she reminded herself, you can do this.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed her chin up and got to work.

"Jessie, just admit it, ya can't win this" Scout's voice echoed through the empty kitchen, her companion lounged on the kitchen counter. She could practically feel his eyes prickling her skin, examining her as she attempted to find something that would fit into whatever she was holding.

She gritted her teeth, used to the negative comments. In the six hours that she had been hunched over the table in the kitchen, both the Engineer and Demoman had tried to convince her out of it. She had heard them earlier discussing the matter in the recreation room, and apparently, their next strategy to try and save her sanity was to get Scout to stop her.

A good choice, seeing as Scout was her only friend so far on the team, but not good enough. Jessie had promised herself at the very start of her task that she wouldn't budge until this was finished, even if it meant staying up all night.

Eyes roaming from the bolts and objects toward the window, she could tell that the latter might be a very likely option. The once bright afternoon sun had slipped beyond the horizon, painting the sky a dark blue.

"Look, I need to do this, 'kay?" She simply replied, frowning as she attempted to attach two parts that should have fit in perfectly. They almost fit, just not perfectly.

Feeling her frustration raise, she ended up smashing the two pieces together in an attempt to piece them together. When that didn't work, she threw them onto the table in anger. "Bullshit!" She hissed through her teeth, running a hand through her hair in frustration.

Scout bounced off the counter, bat held limply in his hand, frowning at her sudden outburst.

"I ain't no doc, but ya seem a little sleep-lacked"

"Ya mean sleep deprived?"

"Ya, whatever. What I'm tryin' to say is, this is impossible. It's been hours and you've only managed to piece together two things?" He tried to reason with her, motioning to the one piece of the puzzle Jessie had managed to solve.

"I have to do this" She repeated under her breath, hands reaching out to try another combination.

"No, ya don't. Ya have eight other mercenaries who're willin' ta teach ya, why do ya need Solly?" He tried again, his bat a natural extension of his arm as he used wild hand gestures to emphasis his sentence.

"It's not that…I just…I needa prove to everyone, not just me, that I am capable. That just 'cus I'm a girl, doesn't mean I can't pull my own weight around here" She sighed, resting her head in her hands.

"Everyone already knows dat, J" He began, taking a seat across from her.

Jessie simply shook her head, pulling herself back together and continuing on with her giant jigsaw puzzle.

Scout sighed, looking as though he was about to protest further, but he must have decided against it as he instead found his way out the door.

* * *

Scout's Point of View:

Jessie was going to kill herself! She was going to die from some sort of disease you could only catch when lacking of sleep. He swung his bat through the air in frustration as he walked down the hallway, shaking his head.

He had tried to talk her out of it, but she was too damn determined and stubborn. He swung his bat again, shaking his head more violently. Turning a sharp corner, he made it to an open door. Light spilled out of the crack in the door and onto the ground, and a hushed conversation filtered outside.

He pushed the door open further, sidestepping inside. All heads turned to him as he did, but the conversation quickly continued as they all saw who it was.

In front of him were all the other mercenaries, all tightly crowded into the small room like a can of salami. He found his spot on the floor, focusing in on the topic at hand.

"Ya need'a apologize to 'er, mate" Sniper tried, searching Soldier's eyes. He simply sat there, cleaning off his oversized helmet.

"There's no way the wee lass can finish that task!" Demo's voice shouted from the corner, before the scot took a long, hard swing of his bottle.

"What in tarnation were you thinking?" Engie piped in, strumming his guitar calmly as though they weren't surrounded by an incredibly uncomfortable tension. "Just apologise"

"I WAS THINKING THAT WOMEN SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED IN THE WAR!" He suddenly burst to his feet, storming out of the room.

An awkward silence filled the room, until finally Snipes spoke up.

"Aww, piss"

"What do we do now, then?" Scout spoke up for the first time since he had arrived, lounging himself across the couch.

"Nothing"

"What do ya mean nothin'?" He asked, confused.

Sniper shifted on the spot, pulling his glasses up to the very bridge of his nose. "Nothing. We trust 'im to work this out 'imself" He straightened up, beginning to walk out the door.

"Wait, trust Soldier to…apologize? On his own accord?" Scout repeated, eyes bulging out of their sockets. "We are talkin' about the same Solly, right?"

* * *

Heavy, purple bags weighed down on Jessie's eyes, a big contrast to her pale white skin. She looked even worse than usual, her hair twice as knotty as usual after running her hand through it so many times.

Her mind barely registered the faint morning light that swept down from the window, too absorbed in the task at hand to really focus on anything. Sleep had escaped her, the very concept buried underneath her working mind.

It had been all night, and all she had managed to build were five pieces and a few bolts. Only FIVE pieces. Yet, she wouldn't give up. Couldn't. Soldier's comments only fuelled her on, making her want to wipe that distain clean off his face.

She needed to prove that she had just as much right to be there as anyone did.

She didn't even notice the dark shadow looming over her before he cleared his throat.

Squinting against a blurry vision, she looked up from her fidgeting to come face to face with no one but the Soldier himself.

"I'm almost done!" She lied defensively, bloodshot eyes bulging out of their sockets.

He scoffed, shaking his head.

He stood there, simply staring between her and the pieces, as though deciding what he should do. Was that a tiny bit of regret that showed in his face? Whatever it was, it was gone in a flash.

"Look, kid" He began, his voice at a normal tone…That was probably the part that freaked her out the most, how normal and almost soothing he sounded.

The word kid was insulting, sure, but she let it slide because of the serious look that was engraved on his face.

"I…" He began, but she could tell he was choking on his own words.

Shaking his head, he stood a little bit straighter. "LESSON NUMBER ONE, MAGGOT, A WOMAN NEEDS TEAMWORK IN ORDER TO SURVIVE" His voice took on its usual high tone, and his words began to register in her mind.

Sure, it was still sexist, but…

"Are ya saying you'll teach me?" She asked hopefully, face instantly brightening. It hadn't been the apology she wanted, but it was good enough.

"IS THAT A PROBLEM, SOLDIER?"

"NO SIR!" She screamed at the same tone as him.

"THERE'S NO NEED TO SCREAM" He shouted back, before bursting full throttle into training.

Whatever Jessie had expected, this was not it. First he burst into a full on lecture about zoos or some shit, which she mainly zoned out during, before making her workout. And workout. And workout.

At one point, he asked her to do fifty push ups. She collapsed at 42, earning her another long lecture.

Still, it didn't matter whether the training was good or bad, or whether it was easy or hard.

The point was that she had finally earned the Soldier's respect, and in doing so, she had earned the team's.

Soldier's little lesson lasted for half the day, and the two hours later were spent 'apologizing' to Sniper and Heavy. She never really did apologize, instead demanding a sorry from both of them instead, but they struck a deal to just forget about the whole thing.

It was barely three in the afternoon before Jessie's exhaustion finally got the better of her, and she fell asleep on the couch accidently.

However, that may have been a good thing, seeing as she needed all her strength for the next day's battle…Which would turn out a lot harder than any of Soldier's training.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey, hey, hey! I'm here again, on this fine Friday morning. **

**It's Fanfiction Friday, at least for me xD Ahh, alliteration at its finest. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

For the very first time in her life, Jessie was actually up early and on time.

The nerves that had been eating away at her all week, nerves she had blatantly ignored up until this morning. After a few minutes of turning and twisting, Jessie had finally given up the impossible task of trying to get back asleep and stumbled onto her feet.

She brushed her hair, pulling it into a messy ponytail, before grabbing her uniform. She held the silky fabric in her hands, eyes examining it with awe for a few seconds. Finally, she snapped out of her daze and carefully peeled her pyjamas off and got into the jumpsuit.

Surprisingly, it fitted exactly. The outfit was surprisingly comfortable, and despite covering most of her body, she was shocked to find that the fabric was quite breathable. She mentally let out a breath of relief.

At least she wouldn't be cooking in the sun, she could only imagine how hot pyro's outfit must have been. She pulled on her boots, before wandering over to the small mirror that resided on her cupboard.

Reaching for the bandana, she tied it neatly off at the back of her head, making sure it covered all of her face except for her eyes. She eyed herself in the mirror, thinking back to the message from the administrator.

She had told her to hide her gender, but how could she? Luckily her chest was modest, so she could have passed for a guy, if it weren't for her hair.

She bit her lip, searching her reflection as though it held the answers to her problem.

When her search came up with nothing, she made her way out the door. Fresh air would do her good, and hopefully help her overcome those nerves.

Besides, she needed breakfast.

Walking down the hall, she turned into the kitchen and wandered over to the counter.

Bending down, she pulled open the fridge and stared into it for a good three minutes.

"Yo, Jess! What's wrong?" Scout's voice broke her out of her trance, and she shook herself out of it.

Slowly, she swung the fridge close and turned to Scout. "What?" She asked stupidly, tilting her head.

"You've been starin' at that fridge forever, man" Scout stated, pulling himself onto a sitting position on the counter. He seemed to have just arrived from a morning jog, the slight sweat that hung on him evidence to this.

She shrugged in reply to his question, busying herself by grabbing some cereal, milk and a bowl.

She could feel his eyes piercing her skin, and she tried her best to avoid all eye contact.

Finally, he cut through the silence.

"It's the nerves, right?"

Jessie tensed, stopping midway through pouring her cereal. Taking a deep breath, she continued on as though nothing had happened.

"Look, I understand, everyone does. We've all gone through this before, don' worry, we won't let ya get hurt" Scout tried to comfort her, jumping off his place on the counter.

Jessie sighed, placing the cereal down on the table. She knew that Scout wouldn't give up until he was convinced she was alright, and maybe for once she could actually try and talk about what was bothering her.

Taking a deep breath, she turned around to find Scout leaning against the fridge looking at her.

Almost instantly, her confidence died off.

"I-I'm not nervous" She meant for it to come out confidently, but she just couldn't keep her voice from cracking mid-sentence.

Scout shook his head, frowning. "You can talk to me, ya know" He stated, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

Jessie bit her tongue, weighing her options. Finally, she turned around and began finishing off her breakfast.

"It's just…There's so much pressure for me to get through this round, if I don't then…" She trailed off, somehow, actually saying that she could die only made it all the more real.

She felt a heavy weight on her shoulder, and she looked back to find Scout resting his handing there in a comforting manner. Worry was etched on her face, and she sighed.

Looking back down at her cereal, she wasn't all that hungry any more.

"You're gonna be fine, you're staying 'ere at base. It's not like you'll be runnin' into the middle of everything" He assured, and she gave him a small smile.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks" She smiled.

"Anytime."

They were interrupted by the sound of someone entering, and they both looked up almost situmtanouesly to stud the newcomer. It turned out to be Sniper, ever the morning person.

Jessie straightened up, grabbing her cereal and making her way over to him.

"Hey, Snipes, you got a hat I could borrow?" Jessie asked, getting straight to the point.

"Mornin' to you too" He replied, side stepping passed her to go make his coffee. He looked like he was considering something, before he spoke up again. "I should have something, why do you ask?"

Jessie motioned toward her hair. "I needa hide this tangled mess, so people don't know I'm a girl"

Sniper nodded in understanding, and Scout interrupted their conversation.

"Why didn't ya ask me?"

"I doubt baseball caps will help me hide my hair" She grinned, and Scout didn't object. However, he looked pretty dejected. Wanting to see the energetic Scout she knew, she tried to cheer him up.

"Hey, I can borrow one of our guns for the battle, right?" She asked, and Scout quickly perked up.

"Oh yeah! Sure! Ya can use my scattergun" He replied, smiling.

Jessie nodded, before chowing down on her cereal. She tried to keep her hands from trembling, keeping her nerves from showing on the outside.

* * *

_"Mission begins in 30 seconds…"_ A loud voice boomed over the speaker, and Jessie felt a shiver run down her spine.

She shifted nervously on the spot, the heavy weight of Scout's scattergun comforting her. A pistol was hoisted on a belt around her hip, her secondary weapon. Sniper had come through to her in the end, lending her one of his hats in the end.

It had taken a little readjusting and creativity, but they had managed to keep it from sliding down and make it at least somewhat her size.

Only a few more seconds now before the battle started.

Jessie could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate, and her eyes roamed around the other mercenaries. At least she had them to cover her back, for now.

"Leetle girl will be okay" Heavy announced in a booming voice, slapping Jessie on the back in what he thought was a gentle nudge. Instead, it ended up knocking all the breath out of her.

She wheezed, doubling over. Unable to form words, she simply gave the Heavy a thumbs up as he was walking away.

Coughing, she gradually straightened up.

_"Mission begins in 10 seconds"_

Jessie tensed, eyes widening and hands unconsciously gripping her gun harder.

This was it, she was actually doing this.

She clutched the locket hanging around her neck tightly, whispering lightly underneath her breath. It had been her father's gift to her when she was little, and it was times like this that it kept her from breaking down.

_"Five, four, three, two, one…"_

Instantly, her surroundings erupted into chaos. Battle screams echoed through the building as feet roared, mercenaries bursting out of the garage door. Scout was first to leave, breaking into a full sprint for the other building.

Jessie was the last, and her mind raced to remember the plan.

She had been told to stay in the base, near the brief case. Her task was the protect the case, but most importantly, not die.

She gulped, breaking into a sprint herself and running down the ramp to the briefcase. She gripped her scattergun tightly, heart pounding in her ears and adrenaline filling her body. Every little noise made her jump, every shadow causing her to flinch back.

She eyed the two entrances in which the enemy team could enter from, finger on the trigger. Outside, she could hear the battle raging on.

And…footsteps. Loud feet slapping against the floor. She tensed, getting into attack position.

They were getting closer now, ever so close.

She saw them turning the corner, a dark blob in the shadows, and she got ready to pull the trigger.

"Woah, woah, woah"

She relaxed slightly, straightening up. She knew that voice. That was Scout.

She smiled, although it was hidden behind her bandana, the gun falling limply to her side.

"You almost gave me a heart attack" I stated, clutching my chest for emphasis.

Scout stepped into the light, smirking. "Sorry, just thought I should check on ya." He answered, shrugging.

"I'm fine, no one's gotten in here so far"

Scout nodded in understanding. She walked over to the briefcase, running a hand over its surface. "What's so special about the information inside anyway?" She asked, never taking her eyes off it.

"I don't know" A voice breathed in Jessie's ear, and she quickly tensed.

"Sco-"

The cool bladed nipped at the skin of her neck, the loud noise of a cloaking device deactivating echoing through the room. "But I'm about to find out" He said, the smell of smoke enveloping her. She grimaced, cursing herself for not realizing that it was the enemy spy. "Not zo smart, are we?"

Acting on pure instinct alone, she slowly rose her hands up in the air as if admitting defeat. She could practically see the smug look crossing the spy's face at this moment.

"Ok, ok, let's try to be civilized about-" She began to occupy her attacker's mind, before her left hand shot out for the knife-wielding hand and grasped onto it. She also raised her right arm, making him unable to cut her in response. She pulled her left hand downwards, pinning the knife-weilding hand to her chest.

The action surprised the spy, giving her a split-second advantage. She pivoted to the left, inward under the spy's arm, and completed the turn so that she was behind him. Her right hand slid down to his elbow, keeping it bent under pressure to ensure he didn't try anything.

Her left hand kept an iron grip of her opponent's wrist, assisting with applying the pressure, before she quickly let go of it and slid her arm up his back instead. This action kept his arm locked behind him, keeping him doubled over.

Not wasting any time, she snaked her right arm around the man's neck, pulling his face to look at her.

"Who's ze smart one now" She hissed, imitating his accent, before pulling her hand back in one fluent motion.

_Crack._

She let go of the spy, watching as his limp body fell to her feet with a hollow thud. The adrenaline and animal instinct that had once controlled her mind seeped out, leaving her confused and looking at the aftermath.

What had she done? Had she just killed…

A wave of nausea overcame her, and she felt her stomach empty onto the wooden floorboards.

Gross.

She wiped a bit of vomit from the edge of her mouth, glad that she had pulled off her bandana beforehand.

Tying it back around her mouth, she examined the body in front of her.

Guilt wrung through her veins, and she staggered down to her knees. Trembling, herhand hovered over the Spy.

Closing her eyes, she forced herself to stay strong. She fumbled with his mask, fingers reaching up to check his neck.

Nothing.

She fell back onto her feet, feeling tears begin to blur her vision.

Somewhere, in the back of her head, she knew that he would respawn. That he wasn't actually dead. Yet, it didn't matter. She had still killed him, and what mattered to her now was the limp body in front of her, the unbreathing mass in which she had served this fate.

She sniffled, wiping her eyes just as the tears began to fall. No. She couldn't cry, she wouldn't.

Straightening up, she tited her head up an made her way out of the room. Her legs broke into a full out sprint, the background noise seeming distant. She needed to find Sniper or another one of her team mates, or she was sure to break down.

Turning a sharp corner to try and go up the stairs, she ran straight into the enemy Scout.

"Shit!" She managed to curse before he drew his pistol. She instinctively leaped out of the way. The bullet pierced through the air, chipping her on the shoulder. A scream of agony passed her lips, he body flipping through the air and landing on the ground with a thud.

The blinding pain beginning to cloud her thoughts, it was only pure instinct that drove her to grab her scattergun and bounce to her feet, levelling the gun with the Scout's chest.

She pulled the trigger, and she watched as Scout fell forward face first into the ground.

Satisfied that her job was done, she felt herself growing weak. Her knees buckled below her and she fell down, hand trying to apply pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding.

"M-medic" She croaked, eyes squinted in pain.

She only just managed to stay conscious long enough to make out the dark shape of a skeleton bandana.


	8. Chapter 8

_Beep._

What was that annoying noise?

_Beep._

Dammit. There it was again! Couldn't it just leave her alone?

_Beep._

Jessie groaned, hand limply reaching out to silence the noise. Instead, her hand simply hit cool metal. Wait, what? Where was her bed?

_Beep. _Urg, there it was again! Couldn't it just shut up?

She slowly slid her eyes open, a bright light white invading her vision. She reached up her hand to block out the light, but it was like her arm wasn't even there. She couldn't feel it, it didn't respond.

What happened to her arm!?

She sprung into a sitting position, suddenly wide awake. Around her, medical equipment beeped and whirled by her sudden outburst, but she was only focused on her arm. At least it was still there, but why couldn't she feel anything.

It was wrapped tightly with a bandage that felt coarse underneath her fingertips. Yet, even when she felt her fingers glide over skin, she couldn't feel it. Her arm was securely placed in a sling, and Jessie took a minute to sort out her thoughts.

What had happened?

The battle. That was it. She had been shot, hadn't she? But how had she ended up here?

Her eyes examined the infirmary, drinking it all in. Yet, there was something missing.

Only then did she notice the absence of the usually muttering German.

Oh gosh. Was she dead?

Only then did she catch the hushed conversation going on right outside the door. Or, at least not so hushed on Scout's side of the argument.

"Whaddya mean I can't go in?" His voice was made to be a hushed shout, but his anger must have won.

"Ze patient is not awake yet, she needs her rest" A voice replied in a whisper, a tone of authority that could only be Medic's.

"Jus' let me see her, I needa be there when she wakes up! I needa know she's still alive!" He shouted, and he pushed passed Medic toward the door.

Medic must have tried to intervene, but Scout's speed paid out in the end and he sprung through the door. Somehow, the concept of making a quite entrance never crossed his mind.

His eyes fell upon Jessie, sitting awake and in shock, a look of confusion etched into her face.

"Oh! Er, Jessie! You're…awake!" He shuffled on the spot, a mixture of emotions running through his face. A small look of sadness, as though he was upset that he hadn't been there when she first awoke, but also relief.

"Mein Jessie!" Medic pushed passed Scout in a blur, racing over to check her vitals. "How are ve feeling?" He muttered.

"Am I dead?" It shot from her mouth before she could even think.

To Medic's credit, he didn't even scoff. "Nein"

Well, that was good, but…

"What happened to my arm?" Jessie almost snapped, yet Medic seemed unfazed by her tone. Scout was the one to answer her question.

"Ya were shot"

Jessie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "I know that, but why can't I feel my arm" She was trying her best to keep her voice calm, but her nerves were getting the better of her.

Medic pushed her down into a lying position, but Jessie simply sat right back up.

He sighed, readjusting his glasses and pulling back. "Feeling in your arm will slowly return, however I cannot assure it will ever fully return" He said it with such calmness, that it took her a minute to fully understand the meaning of his words.

"What do you mean 'never fully return'?" She screamed, about to spring to her feet but Medic's arm was strong on her shoulder, pressing her down.

"Yeah, whaddya mean never return?" Scout was also flying upon the Medic, as though it was his own arm that had been injured.

Medic remained as unfazed as ever, a touch of amusement even reaching his lips as Scout's outraged expression.

"This is only the extreme outcomes, it is highly unlikely"

"But, still likely?" Jessie asked, unconsciously reaching out to her arm.

Medic shifted slightly, as though he was nervous. Yet, that couldn't be. Medic, nervous? There was no such thing.

"Ja" He replied, and Jessie shrunk back as though she had been bit.

"For now, you are to take these daily" He continued, placing a few medicine pills into the palm of her hand. "Whilst your arm heals, you are to not strain it too much"

Jessie nodded dumbly, still shocked by everything. "How am I still alive?"

This, however, took Medic by surprise. "You were shot in the arm, not the arm" He calmly replied, and Jessie shook her head.

"But, the blood loss…"

Instantly, silence fell upon the room. Scout shuffled on the spot, avoiding her eye contact. Medic cleared his throat, busying himself by wondering over to one of his beloved doves and stroking it.

"Sc-scout?" Jessie glanced over at him expectantly.

Silence.

"Medic?"

Nothing.

"Would somebody please tell me what is going on!?" She screamed, landing clumsily on the balls of her feet. She staggered forward, but her body was still drowsy with some sort of medication Medic must have given her and she felt herself fall back onto the bed.

Both of them moved forward to help her, but she waved them off with a dizzy hand gesture.

The duo exchanged brief glances, before Medic turned back to her. "Someone had already wrapped your arm when we got there"

Jessie furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding. "From our team?"

Medic shook his head.

The bandana she had seen before she fainted…Who had that been? She'd thought it had been hers, but…

"Was there someone like me?"

"What?" Scout replied.

"I mean, like me" She gestured toward her uniform, only briefly wondering where her own bandana had gone. "Someone with the same class as me"

"I didn't see anythin'" Scout replied, followed with a shake of the head from Medic.

Jessie's face fell, as though she had been hoping for another answer.

"Sorry man" Scout added, seating himself down on the edge of the bed.

Jessie shook her head, giving him a small smile. "It's okay"

Just then, Spy calmly slunk into the room.

"Gentlemen, mademoiselle" He nodded to each of them in turn, his cigarette glued tightly in between his thin lips. "The Administrator would like to see you" He locked gazes with Jessie, and a tense silent quickly fell between the group.

Jessie was the first to speak up, stumbling slowly to her feet. "Y-yeah, okay" She meant for it to come out brave, strong, anything but weak. However, fear was clearly interwoven in her voice.

"Mein Jessie, you are not vell enough" Medic cut in, obviously trying to save her from the inevitable.

Jessie shook her head, waving him off. "It'll only take a second" Okay, so maybe she didn't know that for sure. But, it was enough for Medic to back off.

She followed Spy out the door before any of the other mercenaries arrived to protest.

She was led through a part of the building she hadn't even knew existed, until they arrived at a dead end. "Nice one Spy" Jessie muttered, rolling her eyes. "We're lost"

Spy's jaw tensed slightly, but he managed to keep his expression relatively unmoving despite her criticism. "Patience" He hissed, and, using his back to block Jessie's view, pressed a complicated pattern of the brick.

"Great, you've gone looney" Jessie sighed, but Spy paid her no attention. Instead, he stepped back, pushing Jessie away from the wall.

"Hey, watch it!" She protested, straightening out her clothes. She could tell that Spy was trying really hard not to lose his temper at this point, but Jessie felt no need to apologize.

Without a seconds notice, the floor pulled back to reveal a set of stone steps, leading down into the darkness.

Jessie, mouth agape, was frozen to the spot in shock. Spy pushed her forward and down the steps.

"Don't get yourself killed" Those were the last words Spy voiced to her, combined with a smug smirk, before he clicked a brick and shut the entrance behind her.

Jessie almost thought she'd be left in complete darkness, until bright, artificial lights lit up the steps down. Well, there was no going back now.

Trying to keep her chin up and breathing down, she stumbled down the stairs. She didn't know how many stairs she had to step down, but by the time she made it the brightly lit room they led to, she was doubled over and panting.

Someone cleared their throat, and Jessie looked up, half expecting to find the Administrator standing in the corner watching her. Instead, she found a young lady in a purple suit, with a bun holding her hair tightly in place. In between her arms was a small clipboard, and a pencil was balanced behind her ear.

Jessie had briefly skipped through some of the TF2 comics in 'her world', and she recognized her as Miss Pauling, the Administrator's assistant. She straightened up, blowing her hair out of her face.

"What? I'm tired" Jessie stated defensively. Miss Pauling ignored her comment, gesturing toward the wall instead.

Only then did Jessie take in her surroundings, and her breath hitched in her throat. Weapons lined the wall, some she could recognize, and others she had never seen in the game before.

"You are to pick out your own primary, secondary and melee weapon" She curtly said, and Jessie barely kept herself from running straight toward the shelves. "Firstly, however, you are to sign this contract" She pulled a piece of paper from her clipboard, handing it out toward her.

She grabbed it, as well as her pen, eyes sweeping across the page. It was around 40 pages long! With a long groan, she decided to skip all the reading and simply sign the bottom of the paper.

It's not like she had much of a choice anyway, besides, she was dying to check out the weapons.

First, her primary weapon. That alone took her around one hour to decide, but Miss Pauling stayed in the room the entire time, watching her expectantly. Feeling pressure weighing down on her, she finally decided on dual revolvers.

Next, her secondary weapon. She tried to make this quick, she really did, but it was so hard to decide when there were so many choices. She could barely decide what to have for breakfast, how did they expect her to make a decision as big as this?

Finally, her lean fingers picked out a pair of brass knuckles. Punching stuff was one of her favourite past times, it seemed only natural for it to be her secondary.

But, her melee? Her eyes were caught by the chainsaw hanging at the very edge of the wall, but her logic got the better of her. How heavy must it be to lug that around? It would seriously lessen her speed. Instead, her eyes caught sight of a small, metallic box lying underneath.

Picking it up, she turned to Miss Pauling.

"What's this?"

Miss Pauling walked over, clicking the case open to reveal ten smoke grenades encased.

"Cool" Jessie breathed, reaching out for one of them. However, Miss Pauling shut the case before she had the chance.

"That is all your weapons, yes?" She raised one eyebrow, something Jessie had never really been quite good at.

"Yup." She replied, grinning like a madman.

"Good. Here, eat one daily before battle" She placed a container of pills into her palm, and Jessie struggled to balance all of her possessions in one hand. "You are to resume battle as soon as your arm has healed, is that clear?"

Jessie nodded, and Miss Pauling sent her off once again. Guess the Administrator had bigger fish to fry than her, which Jessie was grateful for. Just before she left, Miss Pauling shouted over to her – "Welcome to the team, cowboy!"

Cowboy, what kind of a name was that? Either way, it wasn't exactly like she could protest.

"This is all yours?" Scout breathed in absolute awe, picking through her weapons.

She nodded, kicking her feet up on the kitchen table, only to earn a grimace from Spy.

"Get your filthy feet off of where we eat" He said from his place leaning against the wall.

She didn't listen of course, instead waving him off dismissively. "I'm injured" She replied, gesturing to her arm as an excuse.

"What's this?" Scout interrupted Spy before he could speak, turning the metal case over in his hands.

She grinned, taking it off him and clicking it open. She motioned over to the smoke grenades, smiling brightly, before pulling it shut again.

"So, what's your class name?"

Jessie froze in mid air, trying to figure out some way to stall the question. Finally, she let out a sigh of defeat. "Cowboy" She muttered under her breath, eyes glued to the table.

"What was that?" Scout leaned forward, straining to hear.

"Cowboy" She said a tiny bit louder.

"What?"

She gritted her teeth, looking up at Scout. "My class name is cowboy, alright?" She shouted, frowning.

Instantly, Scout burst into laughter. Jessie pulled off her boot, throwing it in his direction. Of course, he simply dodged it and laughed even louder. If that was even possible.

Just as Scout's laughter was dying down to a minimum, Pyro came sauntering into the room. At the sight of its surroundings, it leaned on one hip and waved a big gloved finger at the two. "Mphhh mph mphhhhh" It mumbled, and when no one did anything in reply, it came over and forcefully pushed her feet off the table.

It also moved all the weapons of the table, all the while muttering softly to himself.

"Yo Snipes!" Scout shouted in greeting, just as the Australian entered the room.

It was like a lightbulb turned on in Jessie's head. She made her way over to where he was pouring himself a cup of coffee, leaning against the counter. "Hey, did you see someone with the same class as me during the battle?" The question was nagging at her all day, and her last hope was that Sniper had seen someone through his scope.

He ran a hand over his jaw, gears turning in his hand. "Actually, oi think oi did"


End file.
